Long Live the Misanthrope
by Black Star Deciever
Summary: Marshall the Vampire King, 1000 years old. None know pain and betrayal better than him. And none have taught him more about it than humankind. Can Marshall learn to forgive as he interacts with Fionna, the last human being? Expect fluff in later chapters. Lots of fluff.
1. Long Live the Misanthrope

**Long Live the Misanthrope – Chapter 1**

**A/N: This is my first story, it's mostly just going to be me throwing idea down and trying to stitch them together into an actual storyline. A training exercise if you will. But don't let that put you off! Let my super cheesy fluff-crazy mind do that instead **

**Another A/N: When a character is thinking to themselves I do it in italics. Italics inside quotation marks however ("") are treated as usual speaking.**

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Marshall the Vampire King, over 1000 years old, has loved and lost more than a sane mind could comprehend. He has been betrayed by friends, scorned by family and made more enemies than the worst pre-Mushroom War criminals and dictators put together.

But none have treated him worse than humankind. The human race has feared and spurned vampires since the dawn of their existence, sure things got better as time progressed through the ages, and hard truths were put down as superstition and myth. But they never truly forgot, even when vampires were thought extinct or to have never existed at all, the humans still feared them. And fear breeds hatred, hatred so zealous even the humans who _didn't _believe still hated their kind. They passed this fear, this hatred, down through generation after generation of humans.

Such paranoia of course, led to the hunting of vampires to near-extinction. The humans who knew that vampires were no children's tale took it upon themselves to purge the earth of vampires forever, designing weapons that would harm nothing but vampires, exploiting every weakness in the race in their quest for genocide.

All this ended however, when the first bombs dropped. The humans destroyed themselves so utterly that they forgot almost everything about their civilisation. Almost everything… But fear is bred into the soul, the soul never forgets.

And thus Marshall found himself staring down from the dark canopies of the Evil Dark Forest, upon the first human he had seen in nigh 400 years. When he first caught sight of her, memories of his treatment at the hands of humans during his long life surged to the surface of his mind, his vision went red and he felt nothing but a desire to sink his fangs into her neck and rid the world of their misbegotten kind. Humans had no compassion, no love, they caused nothing but destruction, the Mushroom War was the only proof he needed to justify his plan.

But his rage was interrupted by a scream renting the night, the human below him, unaware of his presence, jerked up at the sound and drew her sword before sprinting in the direction of the scream. The shock of the sudden action brought Marshall out of his trance, and he shook his head solemnly.

"Ah humans… always so quick to pounce on the weak…" He whispered to the forest.

Marshall flew swiftly after the human, eager to put this dirty business behind him. It had been a long night and the sun would soon rise, he wanted nothing more than to just go back home. His "Fortress of Solitude" he called it jokingly. Few people ever came near his cave; he was a vampire after all. He slowly pulled to a stop as he approached a clearing in the trees.

"Tree Trunks! Look out!" He heard a female voice shout.

'_Tree Trunks?_' Marshall thought. '_The insufferable little elephant that kept making him pies? No matter how many times he told her not to, she kept bringing them to him… It was so annoying' _Marshall remembered the gooey sweet apple-red pies and started to salivate slightly.' _Damn but they were good pies though…'_

He decided it was in his best interest to intervene and save the eccentric old pie chef from the human.

'_An investment in future pie' _He told himself.

He flew over the clearing to get a view of what was happening and saw the human girl standing over Tree Trunks, sword held menacingly in front of her.

'_Who threatens an old lady with a sword?'_ Marshall thought, disgusted. '_400 years and humans haven't changed a bit'._

He extended his razor sharp fangs over his lips and sharp claws grew from his fingernails, hissing quietly as he prepared to dive unexpected onto the human terrorist. Then a movement in the trees caught his attention.

'_Are there more humans, perhaps? Is this girl part of a larger clan?' _He thought, concerned as to how a large number of humans could have moved through his territory unnoticed.

As Marshall revised his tactics, thinking of a new battle plan shapes began to emerge from the shadows…

'_Ten. Twenty… No way, there can't be that many…' _Marshall thought to himself.

A memory of before the war assailed his mind. He was knelt by the body of a young girl, he had tried to save her from a wild dog but had arrived too late… He was trying to stop the bleeding from the bite in her neck but it was a fruitless endeavour. But he had to try, he _HAD TO_. He felt the lifeblood of the nameless child pumping through his fingers as she died in his arms… he looked into her eyes, another face burnt into his memory, another loss to scar his soul… And he heard footsteps around him, humans coming from the shadows of alleys and doorways all down the street. They converged on him, hatred seething in their eyes, knives, clubs and swords in hand. They saw the body in his arms, the wounds on her neck, but the dog that had caused them was nowhere in sight.

"_Murderer. Freak. Monster" _Voices whispered through his mind… "_VAMPIRE!..."._

A sudden battle cry from below him brought him to his senses. He stared down in surprise to see the human dash at the shadows coming through the trees. The clouds covering the moon parted, allowing a shred of moonlight to happen upon the clearing.

'_Those aren't humans…' _Marshall noticed, relief spreading though him. '_That is an unusual amount of Sign Zombies though… Maybe I won't have to finish the human off myself after all…'_

He watched as the human girl dove into the oncoming horde, fearlessly cleaving her way through the first rank. As much as Marshall despised humans, they sure did themselves proud in battle. She bobbed and weaved between flailing arms, decapitating Sign Zombies as she passed, the movements were fluid and precise, an impressive feat when fighting an enemy who thinks of nothing but killing, tactics rarely remain intact once a fight degrades into a mindless melee. Marshall noticed a pair of zombies that had stumbled around the fighting and were beginning to converge on Tree Trunks.

'_My pie!'_ Marshall screamed silently.

He swooped down and picked the signs up, flying back into the air and releasing them in the air, he watched as they fell into a group of zombies approaching the girl from behind.

'_Damn, didn't mean to help her…'_ He remarked, mildly annoyed.

Returning his attention to the fight he noticed the girl's clothing was shredded, she was bleeding from multiple wounds, but none bad enough to require immediate medical attention. There were only a few zombies left now.

'_She will survive this fight_' Marshall realised, almost impressed. '_I guess that means I must still do the dirty work'_

The girl was returning to Tree Trunks, a huge grin plastered across her face.

"Oh thank you Fionna!" The old elephant said "You and that young man saved me!"

"Young man!?" the girl responded, confused.

"He was righ- oh he must have left!" Tree Trunks answered.

The girl just shook her head at her before picking the small elephant up and placing her on her back.

"Come on Tree Trunks, we don't have time for you to go whacko on me, we have to get you out of this forest, you were out here all night! The sun will be up soon!" She said, sounding cheerful despite her wounds from the fight.

'_The sun!?' _Marshall thought in shock. He whipped towards the east and saw a pink glow on the horizon. '_Damn, I don't have time to waste on this girl… I gotta get out of here' _He watched the girls retreating form for a brief moment before darting off in the direction of his cave.

"I will find her again" He promised himself.

As he flew a feeling of doubt began to settle in his stomach. He would make her pay for the crimes of her people… But was that really the only reason he would look for her again?

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**A/N:** **How's that? Did i done do a good? Hurr Durr.**


	2. Troubling Thoughts

**Chapter 2 – Troubling Thoughts  
**

**A/N: Not much dialogue in this one, but then, there wasn't much last time either. Reviews and followers already! I must be doing ****_something_**** right then. Thanks guys. :)**

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As much as he hated humans, Marshall could not help but admit they had achieved some great things. Humans were by far the most creative form of life the world had ever seen, it was just a shame that they had focused their talent towards death and destruction.

Marshall wandered up to the front door of his house, he had made it back just in time. As he opened his front door he saw light fill the mouth of the cave in the reflection of a window as the sun breached the horizon outside. With his head still occupied with thoughts of the human, he decided to play his axe bass to relieve his mind; music always let him set his mind free from the troubles of the world. As he picked up his bass he couldn't help but laugh at the irony of his favourite instrument, two pinnacles of human ingenuity mixed into one, a tool of death mixed with an instrument of artistry.

As notes drifted from his guitar, Marshall felt a weight lifting from his mind. When he played he always felt there was more to humans than meets the eye, maybe they weren't _all_ bad, maybe he just had the bad luck to meet the troubled few. He put his axe down on his bed and picked up an old acoustic guitar lying up against the corner of his bedroom and began to play an old song, from a time before the war, "Stairway to Heaven" the humans had called it, a piece that made him momentarily forget the destructive nature of their species. As he plucked his way through the first solemn notes he thought back to the fight in the clearing, maybe this human could be one of the good ones, he wished this could be true, he _wanted _it to be true. While humans have the greatest capacity for death, pain and betrayal, they also sometimes showed the greatest compassion, the strongest bonds of love… It had been argued many times that the reason they fight so viciously and create such terrible weapons was merely to protect each other from an unforgiving world. But then, they also fought for base desires such as greed and hatred just as often.

This was how it had always been for Marshall, as he had watched the humans he had seen every good deed paid for by one of evil, they just couldn't help themselves, it was as if they felt that good _must_ be balanced, that evil was necessary. It created conflict in his mind and heart. He had wanted to help humans once, to protect them after the war. But the war had scared them; they became paranoid and more "defensive" than ever, they killed each other as often as they killed the new species that arose from the ashes of their civilisation. Slowly the human population had whittled down to a mere few clans, driven crazy by fear. The human girl was the first human he had seen in 400 years… maybe she was different, maybe they had finally learned to accept the new world.

She _had_ saved his pie supply, with reckless disregard for her own safety at that. Sure she had been an experienced, vicious fighter, but did she kill for her own reasons? Did she kill for fun? Was she a mercenary? Or was she a saviour? Marshall knew humans rarely fought for something that did not benefit them, such a human would be a wonder indeed…

Marshall stopped playing his guitar and decided it was time to give his troubled mind a rest. He placed the acoustic back in the corner and stripped down to his boxers before clambering into his bed. Usually he would just float atop it, but tonight he needed to feel the warm comfort of his sheets, it had been a hard day. Tomorrow he would find the human again; he would see for himself what sort of person she was before he executed her. Even humans deserved a fair trial; it was a system they had invented after all.

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Marshall awoke to the sound of bats chirping in his cave, glancing through a crack in his curtains he saw the sun was still setting.

"Time to get ready then" He sighed in exasperation.

As Marshall climbed into his shower he glanced at the mirror in his bathroom, almost glad that he had no reflection. Even vampires scar if the right sort of weapon is used, he had been hunted more than once in his life, and the scores of silver blades, bullets and wooden stakes had left his body covered in a network of rough lines, pale against his light grey skin. Although none seemed to grace his face, he always preserved his face in a fight, he couldn't let them break his fangs, fangs were a vampire's life, literally.

Towelling himself off, he opened his drawers and pulled out a random selection of clothing, as random as one can get when your clothes are mostly the same anyway. He pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans and a black "Guns'n'Roses" band shirt. He wore his trademark red and black plaid shirt buttoned up over the top of his band shirt and slipped on his black converses.

_'Heh, slipping on converses, now there's an acquired skill' _Marshall thought to himself.

Picking up his axe he, floated towards the door, hoping that today he would not have to play the girl's executioner as well as judge and jury. As he flew across the treetops of the Forest, it quickly occurred to him that he had no idea where he would find this girl, or if she was even out tonight… perhaps he should ask Tree Trunks, it seemed like the two were familiar with each other.

The Vampire King flew into the pygmy elephants apple orchard and knocked on her door. It was answered by a surprised Tree Trunks

"Oh I never! Marshall Lee what are you doing here at this time of ni-" She blathered.

_'Oh glob… here we go again' _Marshall quipped to himself.

"Hey there pi- uh, Tree Trunks" Marshall answered "I'm a vampire remember, I _have_ to come at night".

"Well do come in Marshall, it's cold out tonight, we don't want you getting ill…" She replied

"Wha- Tree Trunks I'm a _vampire _ I can't get… Gah, this isn't why I even came here! Listen Tree Trunks, that girl who you were with yesterday, where can I find her?" He asked, beginning to remember why he didn't hang out with this crazy elephant.

"Oh she lives in that tree house out in the grasslands! You can't miss it, it's hu- Marshall?" Tree Trunks looked around, but couldn't see him anywhere "Oh that boy is gonna get a piece of my—" She ranted.

Marshall didn't pay any attention though; He was flying towards the Grasslands as fast as he could move.

_'She is squatting in MY Tree Fort?!' _He thought has the ground rushed by below him _'Man I haven't been getting out much often, how couldn't I notice that?'_.

As he arrived at his tree house he saw some changes had been made, a boat had somehow made its way into the upper branches of the tree and something resembling an entry hall had been clumsily constructed at the base of the tree.

_'How did she ever get that up there…' _He wondered, bemused at the idea of her dragging a boat up the side of the large tree.

His thoughts were interrupted as a light in one of the windows flicked on and he heard a female voice shouting.

"Cake! I'm going adventuring! The real evil comes out at night! You wanna come with?!" The voice yelled

_'Going to meet up with other evil? Or to fight it?' _Marshall wondered.

"No thanks sweetie, I'm going out to see Mochro tonight!" Another voice responded.

_'That voice sounded older, another human perhaps, a mother?' _Marshall analysed. _'No, unlikely. A human would have no reason to meet with Mochro, that monochromicorn is almost as straight-laced as Prince Gumbutt himself…'_

There was a clamour of noise as someone descended the stairs within the Tree Fort.

_'Glob how can someone be so noisy?' _Marshall asked himself, genuinely intrigued.

A door at the bottom of the Tree Fort burst open revealing the overly enthusiastic human girl. She was wearing the same outfit as last night, a Light blue top with a darker blue skort, knee high white socks and black flats. She carried a green backpack and on her head she wore a white—

_'Bunny hat!?' _Marshall laughed to himself. _'How deceptively innocent'_.

The young lady hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders and jogged off in a seemingly random direction.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Court is now in session." Marshall said darkly, and floated after her into the night.

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**A/N: Because I can. There will be more Fionna later, I'm focusing on Marshall atm if you hadn't noticed.  
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	3. Court Is Now In Session

**Chapter 3 – Court Is Now In Session**

**A/N: Wanna know why I release so often? Because I have too much time on my hands. Even so it doesn't take long to write 1.5k words, maybe an hour. It really annoys me when people spend weeks between chapters and only come out with 1000 words. Anyway, more Fionna this chapter! Huzzah!**

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Marshall watched the human girl as she wandered around in the night, as far as he could tell she was not going in any particular direction, simply just… walking.

_'Well that takes mercenary off the list, mercenaries know what they are doing…' _Marshall thought.

*Sigh-*

Marshall looks down as he hears the girl sighing. As he watches she sits on a nearby tree stump, picks up a stick and starts doodling in the dry mud of the floor.

_'What is wrong with this one, if she is bored then why is she out here?'_ Marshall scoffed.

A strange feeling took over Marshall, he wanted to go down and tease this little girl, to make jokes and cheer her up… But he didn't understand, he hated humans, this girl was human, she was not worth his attentions beyond his self-assigned duty as her judge.

"Glob dammit! This is so lumping BORING!" A shout startled him from his thoughts.

The girl had stood up and raised her arms above her head, and she was yelling at the sky.

"Why do I have to go to the evil!? Why can't it just come to me!?" She screamed. "I don't know where evil is! It should ring my house and order a large butt kicking with a side of ass-whoopery!"

_'What the-' _Marshall couldn't help snickering to himself _'Has sudden bouts of harmless boredom induced rage, accompanied by bad jokes'_.

Marshall was unsure whether that counted as a point _for _or _against_ her execution... Bad jokes were a serious crime. Marshall almost didn't notice her stomping off into the night, he continued following her through the grasslands. He could hear her still mumbling to herself as she walked.

"I can't believe cake would ditch on adventuring to hang out with her new _boyfriend_" The human girl was saying "No, no I shouldn't say things like that… Mochro is a good guy, Cake deserves him… Hey maybe the Fluffy Village needs help, they are always being attacked by _something_".

Marshall felt a strange sense of relief when the expression on her face brightened up, but then he realised what she just said.

_'Fluffy Village… Attack…'_ Marshall had heard _'So, finally showing your human nature huh?'_

He had been getting bored of following this human; he hoped she was going to do something stupid so he could finish this whole nonsense. Floating once again after the human girl, his mood soured considerably at the thought of killing her…

Fionna soon arrived at the Fluffy Village, and sure enough it was being attacked by a large two-headed ogre. A huge grin beamed across her face at the prospect of a good fight, she drew her sword and screamed a battle cry, and ran straight towards the monster.

_'Oh I see… the village was being attacked'_ Marshall thought disappointedly _'I always wondered how this village was still around, maybe it is this girl's doing… But man that ogre must be 15 feet tall, will she be okay? No! That is not important…'_

Marshall gave himself a mental slap for worrying about the girl's safety and returned his attention to the fight. The human leapt, using the roof of a building in the Fluffy people's tiny village as a stepping stone, and landed on the ogre's back, stabbing her sword down into its shoulder. The ogre roared in pain and reached back a hand to swipe her off, but the girl used her sword impaled in the ogre's back to swing on top of the hand, she drew the sword out from the ogre's flesh and leapt to the ogre's shoulder with surprising agility.

_'I know I've said it before, but daamn this girl can fight…' _Marshall admired.

The human plunged her sword into the eye of the left head, causing the ogre to roar in pain and the entire left hand side of its body to go limp.

_'Oh, so that's how those things work…'_ Marshall realised.

As the ogre starts to fall, the human pulled out her sword with a triumphant yell, she stucj it back into the ogres back and swung around to the other side of the ogre to avoid being crushed as it plummeted to the ground. She swiftly drew her sword out again and decapitated the other head, using the momentum of the swing to cleave through its skull. She fist pumped the air and gave another triumphant yell, before realising she was still falling… she clenched her eyes and braced for the impact…

_'Way to ruin the moment girlie..'_ Marshall sighed, he turned invisible and swooped through the air to grab her just as she was about to hit the floor, he then let go immediately as he realised what he was doing, leaving her to hit the floor with a small bump.

_'Why did I do that?'_ Marshall slowing floated back from her staring at his hands.

He switched his focus back to the human girl who still had her eyes clenched shut. She slowly peaked through one eye and scrambled to her feet, looking at the ground around her in shock.

"…I-" She began.

_'Let's see how she deals with this' _Marshall decides.

"I.. AM AWESOME!" She cheered as she gave a final victorious fist pump.

_'Oh glob…' _Marshall face palmed himself. _'Is she always this excitable?'_

The human girl had just finished being thanked by the mayor of Fluffy Village and was walking back in the direction of the Tree Fort. Marshall, naturally, trailed after her through the night.

_'I guess that's all for tonight then' _Marshall said, rather disappointed by the lack of events that night. _'I shall have to continue this tomorrow'_

Marshall followed the girl home to the tree fort, all the lights were out, it would seem her mystery roommate had yet to return. The human girl began to bang on the door after a few minutes she yelled through the letterbox.

"Cake! Cake I'm back!" She yelled.

After a moment she sighed dejectedly and sat down on the doorstep, pulling her knees into her arms to keep warm.

_'…dammit' _Marshall thought as he looked at her sad form. He flew through one of the upper windows and worked his way down through the house, noting the set of armour strewn across the floor at the bottom of the staircase. _'Well that explains the noise this morning…'_

Marshall turned invisible before unlocking the latch and slowly pushing the door open, it hit the adventurer softly in her backpack. She turned around and stared through the crack before getting up and slapping herself in the face.

"Duh! Of course it was unlocked… Cake wouldn't lock me out…" She said.

_'Glob this one is too optimistic for her own good' _Marshall sighed inwardly. _'Court adjourned...'_

As she entered the house he slipped out the front door and began to head back towards his cave.

"If I had some way to travel during the day I would be able to get this over with a lot faster…" He thought aloud.

Marshall entered his house, glancing at the clock as he passed through to the kitchen.

_'It's 4AM?' _Marshall's eyes bulged at the time _'How long did I follow her around doing nothing for?'_

This was definitely going to be a huge waste of his time. Marshall grabbed a box of strawberries and began to suck the red from each of them, dropping the grey carcasses into his trash can. He made his way back up to his bedroom and floated above his bed, deciding to go to sleep early but too lazy to change out of his clothes.

* * *

He was knelt by the body of a young girl, he had tried to save her from her death but couldn't stop the blood… He held a hand over the bite in her neck but it was a fruitless endeavour. But he had to try, he _HAD TO_. He felt the lifeblood of the nameless child pumping through his fingers as she died in his arms… he looked into her eyes, another face burnt into his memory, another loss to scar his soul… And he heard footsteps around him, humans coming from the shadows of alleys and doorways all down the street. They converged on him, hatred seething in their eyes, knives, clubs and swords in hand. They saw the body in his arms, the wounds on her neck, but what had done it? Who had done this!?

Marshall lurched awake from his nightmare, why was that memory repeating itself so often now? At some point he had floated down to land on his bed while he slept, and the sheets and his clothes were drenched in sweat. He changed out of his clothes before trying to get back to sleep, but sleep refused to take him. Sighing, he floated over to his acoustic and began to play slowly, he played nothing in particular, he just let his feelings flow across the strings. He sat there and played through the night. The sounds from his guitar floating through the cave, a melody so sorrowful it could make the hardest man cry…

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**A/N: Wooo chapter 3. I think Marshall is warming to her a bit! Who knows… I was going to say something else but I forgot. Meh.**


	4. Court Adjourned

**Chapter 4 – Court Adjourned**

**A/N: What uuuup, I have nothing to say! Full speed ahead! Oh no wait, I'm so hyped for the SWTOR: Rise of the Hutt Cartel early access! Starts tomorrow, woo! Expect slower releases, by which I actually mean slower, not stopped altogether. Maybe 2 or 3 a week, depends how long I make this thing.**

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Marshall had been following the human girl for several nights now, and much to his frustration, she had never done anything he could consider "Evil". It was almost as if she had none of the downfalls of human kind, there was not a shred of greed or hatred in her. She was always optimistic about everything, she smiled incessantly, and she helped people all day and asked _nothing_ in return. Of course they gave her things anyway, new swords, food, small things like that. All of this did not bode well for Marshall, at this rate killing her would just be murder. Sure he was the son of a demon and the Vampire King, but he wasn't a _murderer_.

He had learned, unintentionally, that the girl was named 'Fionna' and she lived with her magical cat/older sister 'Cake'. That one had come as a surprise to him, but it made her lack of human qualities make some sense really, if she was raised by magical cats she wouldn't have been brainwashed with fear and paranoia like most human children were.

_'Maybe I will have to let her live after all…' _Marshall pondered as he floated, invisible, outside the Tree Fort.

He was ready to call it quits, there and then, when he heard a phone ringing inside the house.

_'A phone call?' _Marshall decided to hang around just a bit longer to see what this was about, he edged closer to the window but still couldn't hear the conversation. He remembered a secret switch to open the window from the outside, it was in a hollow under a nearby branch. He found the switch and flipped it down, smiling in satisfaction as the window silently popped open.

_'Nearly 100 years and it still works just fine. Man I'm good' _Marshall congratulated himself.

Gliding back to the window he could finally make out the words of the conversation…

"…e right there!" Fionna said before hanging up the phone.

_'… Or not' _Marshall sighed. _'Whatevs, guess I'll just have to foll-'_

"CAAAKE!" Marshall winced as he heard the shout from a mere few metres away. "Ice Queen has kidnapped Gayball again!"

Marshall's face seemingly exploded as he heard her yell. _'Gayball!? HAHAHA' _It kind of made sense to him actually. Gumball had come out last year, or so he had heard.

Fionna must have heard his snort, because she was staring out the window with a confused look on her face as her sister stretched up the ladder at the back of the room.

"Babycakes!" Cake began, Marshall sniggered again "You can't keep calling him names just because he hurt you. He didn't mean it you know, you are just being rude now…"

Marshall jerked upright at that last one. Gumball had hurt his human?

_'Wait what? No she's not MY human. I am just judging her… that's all' _Marshall berated himself _'At least in the time I have been gone I know Gumbutt hasn't changed. Still manipulating the innocent I see.'_

"Cake…" Fionna began exasperatedly "let's just go save him… I don't want to think about it"

The cat sighed.

"Alright babycakes, let's go whoop Ice Queens butt, what time is it?" She raised a fist.

"Adventure Time!" Fionna yelled in response, meeting the fist with her own.

Marshall chuckled at their antics and floated away from the window while he waited for them to leave the house. They came out through the flimsy looking lobby they had going on at the bottom of the tree house a few minutes later, all geared up for adventuring, and headed straight towards the Ice Kingdom. Fionna leapt onto Cake's back and she stretched them across the ground at a fast pace, forcing Marshall to speed up so he could keep with them. They soon arrived at the mountainous border of the Ice Kingdom. Cake shrunk down a bit in size, and thankfully speed, so as to keep some semblance of stealth.

_'Not that it will matter, Fionna is just going to charge in screaming anyway…'_ Marshall thought.

Just as Marshall suspected, the minute they reached the gates to the Ice Palace, Cake used two huge paws to break down the doors and the pair charged straight in before the dust had even settled. Marshall, still invisible, floated through after them. This would be an interesting fight to see, he hoped they wouldn't kill the Ice Queen, she was nice once, back when she was sane. But considering Fionna had said "again" he assumed this wasn't the first time they had fought her, maybe they knew that she was really just lonely.

"Ice Queen!" Marshall heard a shout from ahead "Where is Prince Gumball!"

Marshall rounded a corner to see Cake and Fionna facing down the Ice Queen.

"You can't have him! He's _my_ prince! He will marry _ME!_" She shrieked and threw a few ice bolts from her hands at the pair of adventurers.

"But he's _gay_!" Fionna yelled in between dodging bolts of ice.

"Mhmm! That boy is playing for the other team lady!" Cake quipped.

"_NOOOOO!_" Ice Queen exclaimed.

She sprayed a sheet of ice in a line that sliced through the air where Fionna had been standing just seconds before. Fionna had obviously done this before, she had ducked before the Ice Queen even started her attack. Marshall had to admit, Simone had never been much of a one for tactics, she usually just sticks to one move set. Fionna dodged around all of Ice Queens attacks while Cake snuck up on her from behind, once she got close enough she swung at her with her sword, causing Ice Queen to stumble backwards in order to avoid the attack.

"Now!" Fionna shouted to Cake.

Cake extended her arms and snatched the magic crown from Ice Queens head.

"No! Not my mmmff-!" Cake had stretched to 20 times her normal size and sat down on Ice Queen, playfully twirling the crown in one hand.

"Tell us where Gumbutt is you jerk!" Fionna said angrily.

"Fionna!" Cake said.

"What!? I'm fed up of saving him all the time, he sees me as nothing more than a tool to keep the Ice Queen away!" Fionna said angrily.

"Now is not the time girl! We can talk about this later!" Cake replied in an angry mother sort of way.

"Whatever! I'm done with this, he's just in the cage in her room anyway, he always is" Fionna stormed off to go and free Gumball.

Marshall could pretty much guess where things were going from here. He decided to fly back to his home and rest, he wasn't used to moving about this much, and he had just spent a whole week following the most active person in Aaa. When he returned home he opted for a warm shower before bed, flying after Cake so fast had made him sweaty. When he finished he pulled on a pair of light grey sweatpants and lay down on his bed, too exhausted to float above it. He had spent a whole week following Fionna, and she hadn't done a single thing he could find fault in. Sure she was a bit angsty today, but his guess was Gumball had led her on in some scheme to get himself a loyal bodyguard for free, and Fionna hadn't taken too kindly to finding out she had been played.

_'She is innocent' _Marshall thought to himself _'And I am finished with this madness'_.

He drifted off to sleep.

* * *

He was knelt by the body of a young girl, He held a hand over the bite in her neck but the blood wouldn't stop flowing. But he had to try, he _HAD TO_. He felt the lifeblood of the nameless child pumping through his fingers as she died in his arms… he looked into her eyes, another face burnt into his memory, another loss to scar his soul… And he heard footsteps around him, humans coming from the shadows of alleys and doorways all down the street. They converged on him, hatred seething in their eyes, knives, clubs and swords in hand. They saw the body in his arms, the wounds on her neck, and the man who held the corpse. He noticed his shirt was sticking to his chest, Why was his shirt wet? What was that smell?

Marshall jolted awake again… And again he could not return to sleep, he floated over to his guitar and played the rest of the day away, trying to forget the feeling of blood in his hands…

* * *

**A/N: Yeah yeah, generic Ice Queen Chapter I know. But what's an Adventure Time fan to do eh? Marshall seems to be getting a little possessive over his new toy!**


	5. Acquitted

**Chapter 5 – Acquitted**

**A/N: So I got a job! It's boring but easy and I can do it from home so I'm not complaining. I'll still try and get a chapter of this out at least every 2-3 days though.**

* * *

Marshall awoke, just as the sun was setting outside the cave. Normally it would be well into the night before he awoke but he had been getting up early recently to follow Fionna around Aaa, trying to decide if the last human deserved life or death. It would have been an on-the-spot execution if she hadn't saved Tree Trunks just before he struck.

But now for the first time in a week, Marshall had a day to just do whatever he wanted. He got changed, putting on some blue jeans, a light grey t-shirt and another one of his red and black plaid shirts over the top. He floated barefoot downstairs and into the kitchen, grabbing breakfast as usual, strawberries and cherries, and he sucked the red from them one by one, tossing the grey remains across the room into the trash can. Unable to decide what to do with all this spare time, he flew to his stack of DVDs in the front room and started flicking through them, trying to find one which he hadn't seen so many times that watching it again would be considered "inhumane".

_'Something must be pretty damn bad if even humans wouldn't do it…' _Marshall thought, feeling a little hypocritical after acquitting Fionna of her humanity just last night _'Man these movies are all bunk…'_

Marshall decided he was sick of all the movies he owned and decided to play his guitar instead, it been a week since he got some serious jam time in after all. He flew upstairs and grabbed his acoustic guitar; he preferred to use the acoustic when he wasn't recording. Just as he was about to sit down, he decided that he needed a change of scenery, after living in this house for nearly 100 years staying indoors wasn't an enticing thought. He flew out to the forest and after a few minutes settled down, with his guitar, against a random tree.

"Better than plaster walls I guess" Marshall sighed to himself.

* * *

Fionna was doing some late-night adventuring, it had been some time since she last checked the forest so she had decided to scope it out tonight. As she wandered through the forest she heard a strange twanging sound, it sounded like…

_'Music? And is that someone singing?_ Fionna wondered as she moved closer to the sound.

Fearless as always, Fionna headed straight towards the source of the noise until she could clearly make it out. Somebody was playing a guitar and singing, she didn't recognise the song though. She moved closer towards the music, trying to get a glimpse of him and unveil the identity of the mystery musician. And then she saw him, her breath caught in her throat.

He sat, eyes closed, with pale grey skin luminescent in the moonlight. He had messy raven black hair which sifted gently in the breeze. He was wearing a red and black plaid shirt, blue jeans, a pair of black DC shoes and was playing an ancient looking acoustic guitar. But the most breath taking part was his voice, it cascaded through the trees and played against her ears like velvet as he sang. Fionna wanted to just watch him all night, she sat behind a tree and pulled her knees towards herself and just… listened.

Marshall stopped playing. He didn't feel right… he just didn't want to play anymore for some reason. He _always_ wanted to play music, it felt like he was missing something, like there was somewhere else he should be. Annoyed, he started flying back to his house.

Once the music stopped, Fionna peaked out from her hiding place, to see the musician had gone.

_'Wha.. How? I didn't hear a thing!'_ She thought, confused at his sudden disappearance. _'Was he an illusion? A ghost?'_ She shuddered at that last thought, she had some bad experiences with ghosts._ 'I'd better get home… Cake will start wondering where I am soon'_

* * *

Marshall was lost in thought, contemplating what could be wrong. Was he ill? Are there special vampire illnesses or something he had never heard of?

_'Ha, that's a load of junk. I've lived 1000 years, if such a thing existed I would know…' _Marshall dismissed the idea.

About 10 minutes later he arrived outside Fionna's treehouse and spot checked the windows for any signs of her. He didn't see her so he just waited, floating in the air as if he were going to sleep. After what seems like an eternity he hears her footsteps below him and…

_'Wait a second! What the hell am I doing here!?'_ Marshall had suddenly realised where he was _'Glob dammit, this judgement thing became a bad habit. I'm getting the hell out of here'_

He took one last glance downwards towards the adventurer who had just come home, she had a tuft of blonde hair sticking out from her cute bunny hat, and then he flew off directly towards his house. As he left the tree house, the uneasy feeling in his stomach which he had forgotten about came back again… Marshall groaned.

_'Maybe I should go see Gumbutt about this, he is an insufferable creeper but he IS smart, maybe he can figure this out.' _Marshall decided.

The candy kingdom hadn't changed at all since Marshall last visited, same pastel colours, same sickly sweet air. The worst part was the pink though, there was so much _pink_, it made Marshall shudder… no man should have that much pink in his home. It's just not manly.

_'Now that I think about it, people really should have seen Gumball coming out from miles away' _Marshall thought.

He floated up to the window that led into Gumball's bedroom and saw him sleeping on his bed. Marshall was caught between an urge to scare the hell out of him or to wake him up normally and actually achieve what he came here for. Waking him up normally seemed like the best idea, but it was a close call for a moment, scaring Gumball has always been fun.

Marshall opened one of the windows, it was locked but that didn't stop him. The deadbolt was made from a candy cane which just snapped when he pushed, Gumball needed some new architects; candy isn't exactly a strong building material.

As if to prove a point, Marshall snapped a chunk from the balcony and started breaking it into smaller bits, before flicking them at Gumball. Eventually, little bits of candy hitting him in the head roused Gumball from his sleep. He looked around the room confused for a moment before his eyes widened as they set upon Marshall floating in his window.

"Hey Gumbutt, how you holding?" Marshall asked nonchalantly.

"Marshall!? Marshall Lee!? My glob I haven't seen you in _years_!" Gumball stated in shock "And my name isn't Gumbutt!"

"Oh, was it Bumgutt?" Marshall decided if he wasn't going to scare him he could at least annoy him a bit.

"Really? I don't see you for 6 years and the first thing you do is call me nicknames…" Gumball sighed "What do you want Marshall?"

"Straight to business! I like that in a Prince" Gumball blushed slightly causing Marshall to remember Gumball's recent announcement of his sexuality "Woah, calm down there! You might swing for the other team but I'm a loyal player over here!"

"Ugh, Marshall! You're so crude!" Gumball said frustrated "Just tell me why you're here so I can get back to bed, we aren't all nocturnal!"

"Pff, okay pinkpants, I think I might be ill. I feel kinda weird, like I'm all hollow inside but something is gnawing away at me trying to get out." Marshall said.

The prince studied him for a moment.

"… You hungry?" He offered.

"Dude! Seriously." Marshall didn't know the prince had it in him to joke…

"I don't think there is a way to be serious about this Marshall, vampires _don't get ill_." Gumball stated matter-of-factly "It's probably something in your head, emotional turmoil from spending 6 years in seclusion perhaps, maybe you need some friends"

Marshall let out a quiet growl.

"Hey calm down, just bouncing ideas off you" Gumball said defensively.

"Well in exchange for that comment, perhaps you can tell me about the human girl I have seen around" Gumballs eyes went wide with panic.

"Marshall! You cannot hurt Fionna! She has done nothing wrong!" He said loudly in an attempt to salvage the situation.

"Gumball…" Marshall began before Gumball interrupted him,

"She has a heart of gold!"

"Gumb-"

"She protects the people of Aaa all the time, she practically lives to help others!" Gumball continued.

"GUMBALL!" Marshall hissed, eyes glowing red and fangs elongating. "I AM NOT GOING TO HURT HER."

Gumball cowered a bit in the face of Marshall's rage.

"Sorry it's just… I know how you are with… humans"

"Well my opinion has changed" Marshall said "You said I needed friends yes? Well now I know where to look…"

Marshall whipped away from the prince and flew out the bedroom window, headed in the direction of his cave.

"Oh dear… Oh _dear!_" Gumball was left wringing his hands anxiously.

* * *

As Marshall arrived home, his thoughts were about Fionna, she was a great fighter, had her funny moments too… it almost didn't seem like a bad idea. Maybe this friendship thing could work out. As he pondered this he moved through the house getting ready for bed, he would need to be up early tomorrow if he was going to get anything from this. He had a late snack of strawberries and changed out of his clothes. All the while, thinking about tomorrow, the gnawing in his stomach grew ever more intense.

Accompanied by his growing unease. He fell into a fitful slumber.

* * *

He was knelt by the body of a young girl, He held a hand over the bite in her neck but the blood wouldn't stop flowing. But he had to try, he _HAD TO_. He felt the lifeblood of the nameless child pumping through his fingers as she died in his arms… he looked into her eyes, another face burnt into his memory, another loss to scar his soul. His shirt was plastered with her blood, and he felt a warm liquid dribbling down his neck… What was happening? He heard footsteps and saw wild eyes in the darkness… the humans were coming, driven mad with fear… the humans were coming…

Marshall burst upright from his bed, he could have sworn his heart was beating again for a moment. Sweat dripped down his face as he sat motionless in his bed, all he could remember of the dream was a strange coppery flavour in his mouth…

* * *

**A/N: Busy chapter! We got into Fionna's head, Gumbitch got served and Marshall wants to make friends! Nah not that busy really, I wanted to put more in but I would be late on my own 2-3 day schedule if I did. See you soon!**


	6. One Does Not Simply 'Make Friends'

**Chapter 6 – One Does Not Simply 'Make Friends'**

**A/N: So Soilwork released a new album (They are a Melodic Death Metal band, and they are f*ck*ng awesome sauce) called The Living Infinite. IT BLEW MY BALLS OFF, THAT'S WHY I'M LATE. THE SURGERY TOOK A WHILE. Also my weekend was pretty busy, couldn't get any writing done! Anyway sorry, it's here now.**

* * *

Making friends. Not a new concept to Marshall, he had been friends with hundreds of people in his thousand years of life. It's just… he had never been friends with a human. What did humans _like_? He had spent an entire week following Fionna around but she had done nothing but eating, sleeping and fighting evil things.

He couldn't take her out to dinner or anything, that's like dating level stuff right there. Fionna clearly liked fighting, a trait typical in humans from Marshall's experience, but surely he couldn't just fight things with her all the time, that wouldn't be friendship it would be more like fight partners.

_'I suppose it's a decent place to start' _Marshall decided _'I can learn about other things she enjoys when we go out fighting'_

This was all well and good, but first he had to actually introduce himself to her. She wouldn't partner up with a random vampire.

_'Oh god that's another thing, im a freaking vampire!' _Marshall face palmed himself and groaned audibly into his hand _'What sort of human would be friends with a vampire?!'_

Now that would be the real hurdle if he was going to make this friendship with Fionna work. Oh the lengths he would go to in order to annoy Gumball.

_'Well that's mostly the reason right?' _He pondered _'I mean she does seem like a pretty fun person, as humans go' _

How would he introduce himself without freaking her out… it had been 400 years since he had last seen a human and as far as he was aware the only other vampires left were bound to the Nightosphere. Maybe she didn't even know what a vampire was? Sure the other denizens of Aaa knew about vampire but they were generally more accepting than humans, they didn't try to breed fear into their young. The chances she had even heard the story of the vampires was small.

_'Okay, so we shall assume she doesn't know what a vampire is' _He thought _'But how will this go down, "Hey, I'm Marshall Lee the Vampire King" isn't exactly the smoothest way to introduce oneself. Why am I even trying to be smooth here? I should just be normal right?'_

Even so, Marshall didn't really feel like walking straight up to her front door and just introducing himself. This needed to be special; it needed a sense of mystery. If she didn't find him interesting it would quickly turn out to be a boring relationship.

_'What I need is an opportune moment, like swooping in to help her in a fight…'_ Marshall smirked _'I could be waiting a long time before she actually needs help though… I could summon something from the Nightosphere to fight her, but that might actually be dangerous.'_

The sun was setting outside, it was almost time to go out and Marshal still didn't have a solid plan. But he couldn't wait, Gumball could try and interfere if he left it too long.

_'That tightwad doesn't even like the idea of my kowing she exists, let alone being friends with her' _Marshall thought as he stared at the dimming light in the cave entrance.

Marshall needed some more time to think on this, but he wanted to get creative about it, and nothing put him in a more creative mood than playing his guitar. Grabbing his guitar, the acoustic again because the bass had a limited capacity for jamming, he floated over to the mouth of the cave, and started playing as he waited for the sun to set.

* * *

Fionna was exploring the forest again for the third time this week, she had told Cake she had been tracking a pack of why-wolves, but this was not the case. She was hunting for the musician again, after he had disappeared that night she had been unable to get his voice out of her head, and when she had seen him, he had looked almost… human.

_'I have to know' _Fionna thought as she scrambled towards a wall of rock she had seen through the trees. _'If he is human, he could know where the other humans are! I can't be the last one left… I can't be…'_

But she knew, deep down she knew. She just refused to accept it, until she had closure, until she knew for a fact her parents were gone from this world she still had hope. She had never tried to actively look for them, but every now and then she had asked some of Aaa's more influential figures such as Prince Gumball or LSP (Okay LSP wasn't exactly influential, but he had _all_ the latest gossip) if they had heard anything about humans. She didn't have time to go searching herself; she didn't have time to chase dreams when Aaa was always being harassed by monsters.

She made it to the edge of the wall, it extended way above the treetops.

_'Maybe I can get a good view of the forest from up there'_ Fionna decided.

Before she started climbing, she began following the wall to see if there were any easier routes up the steep surface. Eventually the wall began to circle around, Fionna backed up a few metres and climbed a tree with sturdy branches, trying to see what was at the top before climbing. She finally breached the treetops and looked back towards the rock face; there was a dark depression in the rock about 20 feet up, just a sliver could be seen, but it was definitely there.

_'Is that… a cave?' _Fionna squinted _'Yes! I love caves! Caves have monsters and treasures and, and.. Ooh Cake's gonna be so jells when I tell her about this! She spends way too much time with Mochro!"_

Fionna dashed forwards and immediately began her tricky ascent up the rock wall, there were plenty of handholds but they were all quite small. She pushed herself onwards, scraping the skin of her hands. She didn't care though, she was an adventurer, not some prissy little girl, she grabbed a rock jutting out just above her head and it cracked and fell, hitting her cheek and leaving a small graze as it passed.

_'Hah! This rock is giving me worse wounds than that ogre last week!'_ Fionna grinned to herself as she remembered that fight, honestly she hadn't expected it to go that well, but the ogre had seemed to have trouble deciding which head was in charge and was too clumsy to be a real threat.

Finally reaching to top, she pulled herself over the ridge and immediately rolled onto her back.

"Phew! That was sweet." She said jovially.

She sat up and face the entrance of the cave, she had climbed up on the left of the cave mouth, no wonder she could barely see it from the tree. She climbed to her feet and dusted herself off before taking a step towards the dark entrance.

_'This thing is huge' _She thought _'I bet there is gonna be a sweet boss fight in this thing… maybe I should go back for ca—'_

Fionna froze mid thought.

_'Wa- Was that what I-?' _Her brain stuttered as she tried to recall the noise. It had definitely come from the cave, there was no doubt about it _'it couldn't have been him, why the hell would he be in a cave up a harsh, rocky climb like that' _She struggled to piece it together.

_'There it is again! That is definitely a guitar… It's gotta be him, I've never seen anyone else in Aaa with an instrument like that!' _She concluded, triumphant over her doubts.

Fionna dropped to her haunches and crept slowly into the entrance, she didn't want to startle him, she didn't want him to up and disappear again like the first time she had found him. She looked behind her, the sun was setting fast, she had to be a bit quicker or she wouldn't be able to see a thing inside. She picked up speed as she descended, the fading light made her misstep and send a stream of pebbles skittering down into the cave. She froze on the spot, too scared to keep moving. The guitar had stopped…

_'Oh no…. no no NO! I just found him! Globbit why am I so clumsy!' _Fionna despaired.

She fell backwards and sat on the uncomfortable ground, too depressed to bother climbing down further. She could barely make out a dim glow of sunlight as the sun finally sank below the treetops. There would be no climbing down the cliff tonight, not in the dark. She could fall and break something and nobody knew where she was, it would be days before anyone found her. She sighed and stood, climbing back to the mouth of the cave before the last light was lost and started getting out her camping gear, looks like she was here for the night.

* * *

Marshall was glued to the ceiling of his cave. Not literally, that would be ridiculous, who could _glue_ a vampire to _anything_? He had jumped a mile when those stones had skittered past him. He had instantly whipped his guitar strap around his back and shot up to the roof, ready to drop on any unwanted visitors. _Nobody_ came to his cave… okay _some_ people came to his cave, but never this late, after all who would want to annoy a vampire when the sun is down? After a moment he heard someone sigh and start scrambling back out of the cave.

_'Was it just me, or was that a distinctly female sigh? Actually it kinda sounded like… Fionna?' _Marshall realised and his heart leapt. _'No no I'm not ready yet… I haven't planned for this!'_

_'Agh why am I being all nervous, I can just ignore her right? She will go away, no way is she coming down here with no light!' _Marshall warred within himself.

But he could not ignore her. He flew slowly around the corner as the last light disappeared from the mouth of the cave, there was no moon tonight, she wouldn't see him. He saw her kneeling by her pack, digging around inside it. He just watched her, he didn't know what to do, what if he scared her away?

He couldn't waste this chance though, she was clearly trapped up here, he could use this to his advantage, this could actually be a good way for him to introduce himself. Stirring up the courage, he floated until he was a few metres away from her… and spoke.

"You lost, Bunny?"

* * *

**A/N: They finally meet! Gawdaaaayum that took a while. The fluff begins soon, expect fluff so soft your eyes sink through the back of your skull. That doesn't make sense but I don't give a sh**. Go Team Rocket!**

**Guest reviewer:The flashback is changing as the story progresses, also this chapter doesn't have one, mainly because Marshall isn't asleep at the end of it. Now that he has met Fionna there will be fewer probably because i will try and spread some 'adventures' over multiple chapters.**


	7. I'm Afraid not Girly

**Chapter 7 - I'm Afraid Not Girly…**

**A/N: I hit 10K words! Sweetles. Shame about 400 of them are from author notes though, but I can't live without my free ranting space! Well this chapter makes it an official 10K anyway. Thanks for the support guys :P Onwards, to battle!**

* * *

_'Oh my lawds… "You lost, Bunny?" that's the best I could come up with!? Glob I'm lame sometimes' _Marshall thought, trying his hardest not to slap himself and ruin the moment.

* * *

Fionna had jerked upright and was looking about wildly.

_'Oh… right she can't see me'_ Marshall noticed and floated out of the shadows into the moonlight, a dim red line was visible on the horizon where the sun had just set.

"You lost, bunny?" A soft voice had said.

Fionna almost flipped out, she would have leapt to her feet if she wasn't scared of accidentally falling off the cliff. She twisted her head rapidly, seeking the source of the voice. She saw a movement in the shadows, and _he _came out into the moonlight. It was her mystery musician!

_'Oh glob he's here! He's right lumping here!' _Fionna started to freak out a little bit. What did she say? How did she begin? She had searched for him for days but had never thought about what to do when she _found_ him _'…did he call me "Bunny"!?'_

"I am not a Bunny!" She yelled. Fionna's eyes widened as she realised what she just said.

_'Oh god I didn't mean to say that'_ She sat frozen, staring into his eyes.

He stood there, staring at her with a confused look on his face. Suddenly a wry smirk grew on his face and he burst out laughing. Fionna watched him as he sat down, still laughing.

"Oh man" Marshall said, wiping a tear from his eye. "That was the last thing I expected to hear from you…"

Marshall looked her up and down, this was the first time he had been this close and actually had a chance to look at her, the time he caught her as she fell from that ogre didn't count, he had dropped her and flown back almost immediately. As far as humans go, this girl was actually pretty cute, and she looked around his age too.

_'Oh glob, am I seriously considering that?' _Marshall recoiled from his own thoughts _'Friends with a human is one thing but…'_

As he stared at her Fionna grew increasingly uncomfortable and began to shift around fiddling with her backpack, her cheeks went very slightly pink, but Marshall could see it as if it were bright red, blood had that sort of attraction to vampires.

_'Glob but she IS cute…'_ Marshall thought.

She was wearing a pair of old black converse shoes with knee-high white socks wrapped around her well-toned legs. Other than her new footwear, she had her usual adventuring attire, the dark blue skort and light blue long-sleeved t-shirt. Looking at her this close he could see her body was well muscled, the subtle outlines showing themselves through her skin. But then Marshall had seen her fight, it was no real surprise that she was be in such a good shape. Her skin was pale and from up close it looked as smooth as silk, albeit marred by some fresh scratches. Along with her tuft of blonde hair sticking from her hat and slight blush, she looked amazing.

_'I wonder what's under her hat' _He was about to reach over and grab it before she finally spoke up.

"Why are you staring at me all googly eyed?" She asked.

_'Oops, rumbled' _Marshall tried to come up with a suitable excuse.

"Just wondering what a bunny is doing around here" He said it almost like a question.

Fionna resumed unpacking her camping gear, she seemed to accept his excuse for now.

"Well I _was_ going to explore the cave, but the stupid sun went down on me…" She lied. "I'm an adventurer you know, it's what I do!"

"A Bunny Adventurer? First time I ever heard of one" Marshall replied, he knew she was lying but wasn't going to call her on it, he just had this insatiable urge to tease her, to try and coax another one of those blushes out from her cheeks.

"I am not a bunny!" She said throwing her arms into the air.

"Oh?" Marshall responded, eyes flickering to her hat a few times.

Fionna saw the movement and her hands shot up to her hat, tugging the ears down flat.

"Sh-shut up! It's an awesome hat!" She said, feeling a slight tingle in her face.

_'Success!' _Marshall grinned triumphantly.

"What!?" She snapped at his grinning face

"Nothing, it's an awesome hat" He said, pulling his guitar around his body on the strap.

"You play guitar?" She asked, feigning ignorance to the fact.

"Best guitar player in all of Aaa, Bunny" He responded, tinkling a few high arpeggios from the acoustic to check it was still in tune. Arpeggios were just a mid-level exercise to the experienced guitar player, but to a novice they always seemed rather impressive.

Fionna's eyes widened slightly before she realised what he said "I'm not a- ugh forget it!" She said throwing up her hands and continuing to unpack.

Marshall began to play a song quietly, watching as she set up her camp and toying with the idea of inviting her to his home.

_'Best not… she doesn't even know my name yet, don't want her to think I'm a complete creeper'_ He concluded. _'Well… I DID follow her for a week… I know her name, where she lives, most of her wardrobe… better not let any of that slip…'_

Guessing now was as good a time to start as ever, Marshall decided to elicit at least _some_ of that information from her before he messed up.

"You know I might stop calling you 'Bunny' if I actually knew your name" He prodded before adding in a bad attempt at a posh accent "One normally introduces oneself when meeting another for the first time"

Fionna giggled slightly without looking up from putting together her emergency campfire, she always carried a bundle of sticks in her pack in case she found herself stranded somewhere without wood. Although she was in the middle of a forest, she didn't really have access to the trees at the moment.

"That almost sounded like something Prince Gumwad would say" she said, using one of her rude nicknames for the prissy prince without realising it.

"…Gumwad eh?" Marshall snickered "Another good one"

Fionna's hands whipped up to cover her mouth in shock at what she had just said as she finally heard her own words. "Oh please don't tell him I said that!"

_'Wait… did he say 'another'?' _Her mind wasn't usually that quick but sometimes she snagged strange things like that from conversations.

"Ha, don't worry Bunny, I've come up with worse…" He smirked as he remembered the look on Gumball's face as when he had once carved the growing list of nicknames into the prince's bedroom door a few years prior.

_'Oh… that explains the another then'_ She was corrected before she could even question him _'That would have been bunk if it turned out he was a stalker or something. I've had my share of creeps during my adventures'_

"Hey! You said you would stop!" She exclaimed, covering her anxiousness.

"I didn't hear a name yet" He said in a sing-song voice as he played a series of chords.

"Ah uh, i-it's Fi-Fionna" She twiddled her thumbs nervously. Telling him her name felt like something a lot bigger than it really was, but she didn't understand why.

"Fi-Fionna? That's a strange name. Could I just call you Fi?" Marshall joked at her unintended stammer, and narrowly dodging a stick thrown at his head in response.

"Shut up!..." She turned back to the campfire, a blush setting her face on fire. "So what's your name then smart-ass?" She chided, trying to disguise her embarrassment.

"Marshall Lee." He responded nonchalantly.

_'Marshall?' _Fionna thought _'That's actually a kinda cool name'_

"Marshall Lee, The Vampire King" He added, staring hard at her over the growing pile of sticks. This was the moment of truth, would she flee? Attack? Or did she not know what a vampire even was?

Fionna froze. Thoughts crashed through her mind, forgotten hopes shooting past her eyes as they scattered on the wind.

_'He… He's a vampire!? A vampire KING!? Oh glob, Cake has told me stories about vampires! Is he going to bash my head with that guitar and suck in my blood-mist!?' _Fear coursed through her veins as these thoughts assailed her_._

"You oka-" he prompted, trying to provoke a response, as much as he enjoyed watching her he needed his answer.

"Please don't suck my blood-mist!" She squealed ducking behind her backpack. It was a frail attempt at hiding at best.

Marshall was shocked at the interruption for a second before a smile crept across his lips.

_'Blood-mist… that one isn't a human story!' _Marshall realised _'She must have been raised somewhere else, maybe even adopted' _

Being adopted would explain why she was here, the only human within hundreds if not thousands of miles. It had been so long since he had seen another that he assumed they had left the continent altogether. Marshall chuckled lightly, and decided to try and dig some more out of her.

"Don't be a wimp Fi. I don't even suck blood, I only eat shades of red" He demonstrated by sucking the red from an apple she had tossed from her backpack when she was unpacking.

"So… so you aren't human… or anything?" She responded, peeking from behind her pack.

The question honestly shocked Marshall. She had thought him human? His skin was _grey _for glob's sake!

_'Has she never even seen another human?' _He thought as he studied her, it was plausible given that he never saw them anymore.

_'I see…' _He thought as he watched her crestfallen expression _'She thought she had found another human…'_

"I'm afraid not girly…" He said softly, trying to let her down gently.

He carried on playing, switching to a different song, as he waited for her response. He saw a shiver running up her body, the night was getting colder. Deciding to lend a hand with the campfire, Marshall used his pyrokinesis to light the flame. Fionna jumped out of her gloomy reverie as the bundle next to her burst alight.

"Eeep!" She squeaked, her face immediately turning red as the noise escaped her lips.

"Vampire powers" Marshall winked at her.

"So… so you definitely aren't going to eat my blood-mist or anything then?" She enquired.

"Nope" He said, popping the 'P' "I mean… maybe if I get _really_ hungry or something. But red does fine usually"

Fionna chuckled nervously, hoping that was just a joke. He had seemed a pretty rad guy so far… being a vampire didn't change who he was… right? He was still her mysterious musician, with the soft velvet voice and beautiful songs. She missed his voice… she had only heard it once but she had hunted for him for days to hear it again. Why wasn't he singing now? She wondered.

"So, does this song have any… lyrics?" She asked nervously, trying to prompt him into singing for her.

Marshall raised an eyebrow. "Fell in love with my voice already?" He asked with his sly smile back in place across his lips.

Fionna's cheeks were dyed crimson at the comment. She was about to throw another stick at him, a _flaming _one this time, when suddenly his voice flowed across the night. That beautiful voice…

Rip the earth in two with your mind  
And seal the urge which ensues with brass wires  
I never meant you any harm  
But your tears feel warm as they fall on my forearm

But close my eyes for a while  
Force from the world a patient smile

How can you say that your truth is better than ours?  
Shoulder to shoulder, now brother, we carry no arms  
And the blind man sleeps in the doorway, his home  
If only I had an enemy bigger than my apathy I could have won

*Chorus*  
But I gave you all-!

I gave you all-!

I gave you all-!

Close my eyes for a while  
Force from the world a patient smile

*Chorus*

And you rip it from my hands  
And you swear it's all gone  
And you rip out all I have  
Just to say that you've won

Well now you've won

* * *

**A/N: That song is called 'I Gave You All' by Mumford & Sons. It's pretty awesome, you should check it out. And yeah I know I said at the start that this chapter would make up for the word count taken up by A/N's and then I went a stuffed a song in there! But it was 2000 words before the song was put in so it's still good! Honest! (Okay it was like 1920, so sue me :P)**


	8. You Live Here?

**Chapter 8 – You Live Here!?**

**A/N: So the fluff has finally started, I'm toying with the idea of making Fionna about 15 in the story, so that I can do some small time skips and make it look like their relationship is developing at a normal pace. Sound good to anyone?**

* * *

Fionna sat motionless, mesmerised by Marshall's voice as he sang. She didn't quite understand the song, it sent shivers up her back and she felt… sad. When he finished, he sat cradling his guitar, eyes closed. She wanted to tell him that it was amazing, that she had never heard anything like it before, but she couldn't speak, her tongue felt like lead, and she just sat there with him, unable to shake the strange feeling of loss that had come over her.

"I'm sorry" Marshall spoke up.

Fionna finally found her voice "W-What for?"

Marshall opened his eyes and looked up at her "Some things are better left unsaid, much like some songs are better left unsung"

Marshall rested the guitar on his lap and fiddled with the frets, plucking a string every now and then.

"I know thousands of songs, but it's always the sad ones that come to the surface when I play… music is an outlet for me I suppose…" He continued "When I sing… It feels like I'm baring my soul to the world"

He smiled up at her "Hearing me sing is a rare gift Fionna"

Fionna suddenly felt so… wrong. She remembered eavesdropping on him in the forest… it felt like she had stolen something from him, but she didn't want to admit it to him, what if he never played for her again? A wave of fatigue hit her like a brick, she had been hunting through the forest since first light and climbed a cliff at the end of the day, her limbs felt like jelly.

_'And it turns out he's a VAMPIRE, no wonder I could never find him during the day!' _Fionna restrained herself from banging her head on the floor in frustration; she had found him now at least.

She stuck her hand into the backpack by her side searching for her sleeping bag. It wasn't there; she turned around and pulled it open, shoving her face into the gap.

"…What _are_ you doing Fi?" Marshall remarked as he watched her burying her head in her bag.

"It's not here!" A muffled shout came from inside the bag. She pulled her head out "I forgot to pack my sleeping bag! Oh glob I'm going to have to sleep on the floor, this sucks!"

"I can fly you back home if you like" Marshall offered.

"I... Yo... Wha… You lump!" Fionna blurted as she looked around herself "You sat there and watched me unpack all this stuff when you could have just flown me away!?"

"Hey, you didn't know I was a vampire at the time Bunny!" Marshall said, pretending to be offended "Do you want the lift or not?"

Fionna felt a bit embarrassed, he was right, and he was practically a stranger… he wasn't obligated to help her or anything.

"Um… yeah, please…thanks…" She said shyly. A light pink colour filled her cheeks.

Marshall floated up, hovering a few inches off the ground "Well you pack up, I'm gonna put my guitar away"

_'Wow… he really can fly…'_ Fionna thought as he floated towards the cave _'Wait…'_

"Where are you putting it?" She asked him, confused as he entered the cave.

A voice floated back from the darkness "My house, where else would I put it!?"

Fionna jumped to her feet and peered into the darkness. "You live here!?"

A burst of laughter came from deep in the cave. Fionna shook her head in amazement, she supposed it made sense for a vampire to live out of the way like this; the sun wouldn't get to him during the day.

_'I wonder what his house looks like. Is it carved out of the stone!? Ooh that would be algebraic!'_ She thought to herself as she got back to packing her stuff. She kicked out the fire once everything was back in her bag _'waste of good kindling…'_

"You ready?" A voice came from behind her, almost making her jump out of her skin. She span, hand on hilt, to see Marshall floating behind her.

"Glob Marshall!... don't sneak up on me like that!" She panted.

He gave a soft chuckle "I can't help it… ultimate ninja vampire skills!"

"Heh, ninja vampires would be awesome" She smiled back at him "Alright I'm ready, how is this goi- Waa!"

Marshall swooped towards her, sweeping her legs from under her and spiralling into the sky.

"AAAH! MARSHALL! SLOW DOWN!" She screamed, burying her head into his shoulder, strangely she felt much safer after she did, she could feel the vibrations of his laughter through his chest.

Marshall slowed down to a less frightening pace, allowing her to peek out from the safety of his shoulder, a short gasp escaped from her mouth as she saw the world below her. The Land of Aaa at night was amazing to behold, the fires of the Fire Kigdom erupted in the south, the sky lights of the ice kingdom in the north, the 'Aurora Borealis' PG called it. And the sparkling lights of towns, villages and cities littered between the two.

"Woah" was all Fionna could say as she looked down. "It's ju- it's so- ….woah"

Marshall laughed softly "I would like to tell you that my first time seeing it was like that, but honestly it was so long ago I don't even remember it…"

He avoided eye contact as she looked up at him. It was a complete lie of course, he remembered very well the first time he had flown after being turned.

* * *

Not 10 years after the Mushroom War was when he had been bitten, after an argument with his mother, he had ran away and found a colony of human survivors in the ruins… they thought his pointed ears were a side effect of the radiation and took him in as one of their own. But as he grew older, various misfortunes fell upon the colony, people dying without a scratch on them, food going rotten overnight, children going missing… eventually the colony became reclusive, they barely left the shelter of their homes, fear of the outside world settling in their minds. Of course as is the way with these things, their attentions eventually drifted towards Marshall. Grey skin, pointed ears, not much to differentiate between he and they. But it was enough, enough for them to shun him, enough for them to blame their plight upon him, enough for them to… hate him…

Marshall couldn't remember much of that time anymore, just the fear he had felt as they stared, eyes like daggers stabbing him from the shadows of broken windows and pitch-black alleys. He didn't even remember the face of the vampire that had turned him, Marshall assumed he or she was dead now, it had been so long and he had never seen another vampire outside of the Nightosphere. Maybe that's why he was turned, to continue a legacy or something. Honestly, he didn't know, and was unsure whether he wanted to find out.

But that first flight, the first flight he could remember with perfect clarity. He was running, from what he could not remember but he ran, he ran so hard his legs were burning with pain, he was about to collapse when his foot hit a brick obscured by the darkness of the night, he tripped and fell… but he never hit the ground. He flew forwards but never went down, he just kept on going, it took him a while to realise he was actually flying, a while and a solid collision with the side of collapsed building actually.

After he hit the wall and came to a stop he just floated, he was scared at first, unable to move, unable to keep running. He wanted to get away, wanted to move, perhaps if he could climb the building he could hide. And much to his own surprise, he climbed alright, flew upwards to be more precise, straight into the sky until he shot into a cloud. He was almost instantly soaked through to his skin, the shock of the sudden drenching forced his wild ascent to a stop. After a while he began to get a hold of this new power, he never knew vampires could fly, in fact he didn't know much at all about vampires, his mother never talked about the inhabitants of the Nightosphere other than to mock and ridicule, and his faceless benefactor had disappeared before Marshall's now lifeless body had time to hit the floor.

Descending through the cloud he looked down on the world below him, the obliterated wasteland of 'Earth'. As far as the eye could see there were ruined buildings, acidic lakes with acrid fumes pouring from the surface, the skeletons of trees in the distance, a strange electrical storm with a greenish hue one way, a burning maelstrom in another. The world was chaos, and Marshall had wanted no part of it…

* * *

"Marshall?" a voice interrupted his solemn thoughts.

"Hm?" He responded half-heartedly.

"We've gone past my house…" the voice said.

Marshall shook himself back to the present "We did!? Balls, sorry about that, I was thinking"

"What about? You looked pretty out of it…" Fionna prodded.

"Oh I was just trying to remember my first flight… it was just… so long ago… then I got caught in some old memories I guess" He said, unsure why he couldn't just wave it off. Something made him want to tell her.

"Ooh ancient memories! C'mon lay one on me!" She said excitedly as they drifted down towards the Tree Fort.

"Another time Fionna, another time" He smiled at her in his arms.

Fionna started to go a wonderful shade of pink and averted her eyes, wriggling a little in his grasp. Marshall brought them both to a stop by the front door of her house and let her jump out of his arms.

"So, uh… see you soon?" Fionna enquired.

Marshall grinned as he started floating back into the night "Sure thing Fi, come visit whenever you like"

"Y- You too" She said, the pink in her cheeks returned anew.

_'Oh glob did I just give a vampire free access to our house!?'_ She almost panicked as she entered through the doorway _'man, Cake is going to FREAK when she sees him, but he's a nice guy right? Maybe she will come around'_

* * *

Marshall entered his house, rather satisfied with the day's events. Sure it wasn't quite as he had planned things to go out, but it worked out just as well as any plan he could have thought up, if not better. He was pretty sure he had planted a seed for this relationship, maybe becoming friends with a human wasn't such a bad thing after all… she wouldn't leave sugar stains on his couch…

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the delay! I wasn't busy or anything this weekend, I was just doing other stuff. Hope you enjoyed it though J**

**So this time we got some back story! because i felt like it. I may or may not include the vampire that turned Marshall at some point, depends what direction the story goes in.**


	9. LONG BREAK

Sorry i haven't updated recently, i will finish this at some point but things have happened and yeah, my muse has gone walkabout. Sorry for the extended interlude.


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